Google's 3D Touch for Android will have to wait for now

Google added support for pressure sensitive displays in the second Android N preview for Nexus devices in April.

advertisement

Saurabh Singh

New Delhi

May 12, 2016

UPDATED: May 12, 2016 20:51 IST

Google's take on Apple's 3D Touch pressure-sensitive display technology will have to wait for some more time before it goes official. A new Recode report cites confirmed sources as saying that Google's Force Touch version, aka Launcher Shortcuts "will not be part of the initial Android N release" this fall. Instead, it would be part of a later release, most probably a maintenance update for Android N.

To recall, Google had added support for pressure sensitive displays in the second Android N preview for Nexus devices in April. This allows developers to take advantage of such screens and build apps around the functionality. Sadly, it looks like the functionality may not be part of the final build of Android N. Although, the report suggests that a later software update should see Launcher Shortcuts coming to Android N, nothing is official, not even the exclusion of the feature from the final build.

There could be a slight chance that the feature may not see the light of day at all in the next-generation of Android. It must be remembered that multi-window never made it to Android M, even though it was part of Android M Developer Previews. Multi-window is now being talked about as being the headlining feature of Android N. The same fate could await Google's 3D Touch for Android as well.

Although Apple launched the first device with 3D Touch, aka the iPhone 6S, there are already a handful of Android phones that have incorporated similar functionality, most noticeably Huawei's Mate S and the very recent Meizu Pro 6. That being said, the fact that Android is still lacking on such a feature from grounds up means OEMs have to sweat it out extra to woo developers into writing support for each of the phones on an individual basis. Launcher Shortcuts integrated deep inside the operating system will change that.

Get real-time alerts and all the news on your phone with the all-new India Today app. Download from